Antidote Needed
by Camadian Leah
Summary: Nobody said growing up as a Pokemon trainer was easy, the many trials and tribulations made the path of a trainer what it was. Terra is a young girl full of spirit on the path of a trainer, but one of the many pitfalls of her journey threatens to keep her down. Can she find a way out of the problem, or will she let it knock her down for good?


The spring air had a chill to it as the breeze disturbed the evening and the Pokemon that had been playing in the tall grass had retreated to their homes to ward off the dropping temperature. Trainers pulled their jackets tightly around themselves as they too began retreating, save for the few dedicated enough to continue training their Pokemon in spite of the wind that began picking up.

One trainer in particular stumbled out of a coarse scrub of grass that nearly reached her waist, rooting frantically through her backpack before cursing under her breath and sitting down in the rough grass that lined the dirt pathway ahead of her.

Terra let her head knock loudly against the white fence that she had rested against and let out a bitter sigh.  
"Aww dang, why didn't I pack any antidotes? I am a huge idiot." She berated herself, pulling and hand through her hair and pulling the elastic that held it back until it gave in and released the thick straw coloured disarray.  
With another sigh, she pulled out the four Pokeballs that held her companions and released them onto the ground by her feet. One by one they appeared out of the bright red light and landed onto the ground, each one turned to her curiously after they were released except her Wartortle, who emerged from his shell sluggishly.

His once feather like tail had lost it's glossy sheen and looked frayed and tattered as opposed to it's usual elegant curls. Bruises and evidence of a hard battle were visible all over, his ears drooped at the tips and his eyes gave off a soft violet glow that was a telltale sign of poisoning in Pokemon.  
"Hey there Tank, you're not feelin' too good, huh? Don't worry, I'll get us help. I just..." She trailed off, taking in his tattered appearance with a grimace before pulling her friend carefully into her lap. "I'm so sorry, we shouldn't have taken that stupid shortcut, I shoulda got more medicine before we left. I'm sorry." Terra prattled while she unzipped her sweater and allowed the Wartortle to curl up closer to her.  
In her distress, the trainer hadn't noticed the approach of her other teammates until the air around her felt thin with a sudden temperature drop. She looked up and ceased her mindless apologies as a pair of red eyes melted out of thin air about a foot away from her face. When the rest of the body formed her Gengar, Ronnie, was lazily suspended in the air in front of her, snapping her out of her thoughts fully as he jabbed a finger at the ground behind her.  
She took a moment to comprehend what he was doing before realization struck her like a spark and she worked the backpack out from behind her and handed it to the ghost, who took it effortlessly despite its weight and hovered away to rifle through it with the other two Pokemon that rested nearby.

She watched him dig through it's contents and pull out their food, splitting it up between himself, her Pidgeotto and Wigglytuff before turning her attention back to Tank who rested fitfully in her lap.  
After carefully adjusting her position on the grass to let them both rest more comfortably, she began to think over their situation and how they would get out of it without getting themselves hurt even more.  
Terra chewed impulsively on her lip as she thought, causing it to sting with pain when the wind picked up. Tank would need an antidote and to get one herself would require moving him more than she'd like, which would likely cause him to faint from the pain and even the possibility of that happening made her head hurt. Moving any time soon was out of the question, she wasn't willing to put him through that much pain, and as the nearest Pokemon centre was in Saffron City, he would likely faint before she reached it.

The only other option she could think of was waiting for another trainer to come by and ask them if they had an antidote she could use. She let her head knock against the wooden fence once more as she let the thought sink in. That would mean she could be waiting there all night and the prospect of spending the night in the middle of route ten wasn't all that favourable, though her three healthy Pokemon could keep away any wild pokemon that posed a threat, that still meant she'd be sitting on the side of the path in the dark.  
"We have maybe an hour or so of daylight left, so there's still a chance that someone will come by before that." She told herself, faking enough optimism to come up with more of a plan.  
"Hey, Reggie, can you pass me those?" She pointed to the sketchbook and pencil case that Ronnie had taken out of the pack in his search for food and the Wigglytuff picked them up carefully in his stubby paws.  
The trainer gave him a quiet 'thank you' as she took the materials, turned the sketchbook to an empty page and began writing on it in large letters with a pen. After a minute of scribbling, her teammates moved closer to see what she was doing with the page. She gave them a thumbs up and a half smile as she leaned the crude sign next to her against the fence.

**'Antidote needed, will pay if necessary'** was scrawled across the page, large enough to be seen at a distance and underlined several times.  
"I guess we just have to wait now, an' hope somebody will be nice enough to spare one." She let out one final sigh as her Pokemon gathered close to wait with her.

The wind picked up once more as they settled down and watched together, waiting for the approach of someone who could help their plight. Despite the biting chill of the evening breeze, she felt warmth deep inside her as her Pokemon curled up close to her.

Maybe it was all worth it after all.


End file.
